Page 30 of The Highlander’s Enchanted Healer (Spellbound Hearts #2)

As I rode into the courtyard under the purple-hued sky, Isla beside me and the horns blew announcing our arrival, the castle door swung open and Ross strode out.

My heart nearly burst with relief to see him returned from battle alive.

I pulled up on the reins of my destrier, jumped down, and sprinted the distance between us, flinging myself into his arms. I did not care who witnessed my display of emotion.

I did not want another moment of lies between us.

I needed to tell him I loved him. I needed to tell him who I was and what I had done.

I needed to beg him to forgive me. To love me back.

To not send me away. I hugged him fiercely, and it was not until I started to pull back to beg a moment of privacy with him that several things hit me at once.

He was not returning my hug. His arms were stiff by his side, and the look on his face was mottled disgust. No one else from the clan had come into the courtyard to greet us, and I knew well that wasn’t normal.

Not even Alba was here, and I would have expected her, at the very least, to be bubbling with chatter of Roger.

Since she’d started talking, she’d barely been quiet.

“How long have ye been back?” I asked.

“Two days,” he said without looking at me. “Isla, take yer horse to the stables, then go to yer cottage.”

“Aye, Laird,” Isla immediately replied and turned her horse toward the stables.

Unease danced down my spine at his hard tone, the way he hadn’t returned my greeting, and the lack of people in the courtyard. Something was amiss.

His gaze returned to mine once more, and it was hard as flint. “Ye are a fine liar,” he said. His tone was quiet, but the words were clipped with bitterness.

My heart pitched to the ground. He knew who I was. I didn’t how he knew, but he did. “Ross, ye must let me explain,” I begged, taking a step toward him, but he jerked back and whipped up his dagger, pointing it at me. “Take another step, and I’ll plunge it into yer black heart.”

I stood still, even as the world tilted around me. I did not doubt from the hatred etched upon his face or the malice in his voice that he would follow through on his threat. My heart pounded a beat that echoed in my ears and made me feel dizzy. “I thought ye a monster.”

“And I thought ye good,” he snarled. “We were both wrong.”

I recoiled at the virulence he aimed my way, even though I understood it. “Ross, I believed that yer da poisoned my family. I wanted vengeance.”

“So ye read the minds of my warriors and sent us to our deaths. Did ye sleep with me in hopes to read my mind?”

“Nay!” I cried out, reaching toward him again, and this time, he brought the point of the dagger to my wildly beating heart.

It pricked my skin, and a bloom of red appeared immediately through the linen of my gown.

I hissed at the sting as he drew so close to me that I was nearly overwhelmed by the rage radiating off him.

“I want to kill ye,” he spat. “But I will nae because I’m nae a monster.

I do nae kill women. Even liars. Betrayers.

Users.” With an iron grip, he clamped his hand on my arm, sheathed his dagger, and started forward.

I nearly stumbled trying to keep up with his pace and not be dragged across the ground.

He was, I realized, taking me to the dungeon.

Desperation gripped me. Not to stop him.

I knew that was impossible. There was no going back.

There was not going to be forgiveness to be found, but I needed him to hear me, hear that I loved him, hear that I had wanted to tell him who I was, planned to tell him.

“Ross!” I threw my weight backward and dug my heels into the ground, but that did not even slow him, so I allowed myself to crumble, but before I even could droop, I was being scooped up and thrown over his shoulder like a sack.

He walked faster, and each strike of his shoe on the hard dirt dug his shoulder into my stomach.

“I love ye!” I shouted.

“Shut yer mouth,” he snarled.

“I love ye,” I repeated. “After I came to ken ye, really ken ye, I regretted sending yer plans to my brother, but I was confused, and I did nae ken what to do.” He kicked open the dungeon door and pounded down the stairs, even as I rushed out my explanation.

“I read Alba’s mind when ye were gone,” I hurriedly said, as we drew to the end of the stairs, “and I learned that she saw Father James put something in the wine that day at the church.”

His steps slowed, but only for a breath, before he continued striding once more down the length of the dungeon passage to the cages at the end. “It was the proof I needed that yer family was nae involved. I begged Lennox to send a rider to ye, so I could warn ye—”

He stopped then, swung me to my feet, and whipped out his dagger to point it at me as he had before. “Did ye give Lennox the truth? Because he would have ridden to me himself if he had kenned what ye had done.”

“Nay,” I said, regret making me want to die. “I did nae think—”

“Oh, aye,” he said, rancor heavy in his voice, “ye thought. About my death. About destroying my clan. About deceiving us.”

He swung toward cell, and when I looked into it, I gasped at the sight of Breeda.

“Get in,” he ordered me.

“Ross, please—”

He grabbed me by the arm, shoved me into the cell, and slammed the door to lock it once more. “Ross, did ye win the battle?” I was desperate to know if I was responsible for any men’s deaths. I didn’t think I could live with myself if I was.

He turned slowly to me, and the hatred in his blazing eyes made me flinch. “I lost the battle and my brother.”

“Nay!” I cried out, clinging to the bars. “Allan can nae be dead!” What had I done?

Ross stepped close to the cell. “Do nae pretend ye care. Gordon has captured my brother, and mark my words, Elena ,” he said, my name a curse upon his lips, “if my brother dies, ye will truly come to rue the day ye came to my home.”

He turned and stormed up the stairs as I stood helplessly and watched him go. When I couldn’t see him any longer and the dungeon door slammed shut, I faced Breeda. “What are ye doing here?” I demanded.

“Ramsey betrayed me,” she spat. “He vowed to me he would wed me. I did things for him because of that vow. I—”

I did not wish to hear one more word from her mouth. I clasped her arm and hissed, “Shut yer mouth.”

She stilled, likely out of fear, as everything she’d intended to say and hadn’t intended to reveal slammed into my head.

Ramsey killed yer family. I made the poison he gave to the priest to kill yer da, yer brother, yer uncle. I—

I released her and stumbled away from her as my stomach twisted with horror, regret, and loss. “Why?” I demanded. “Why would Ramsey kill my family? Why would ye aid him?”

“Ye do nae ken what it is to be poor, Elena. To want a better position in life without any real way to get it. To love a man who is beyond yer reach!”

I immediately thought of Ross. “I ken what it is to love a man who ye will nae ever have a future with,” I said, our gazes meeting and clashing. “But I would nae ever kill for the love of a man!”

“Ye do nae have to,” she growled. “Ye are a laird’s daughter, born with all the privileges that go along with that.

Ramsey and I were born poor—he to a whore and me nae even kenning my mama.

She abandoned me, Elena! I ended up at yer clan because yer mama found me in the woods.

” I frowned, and she gave a bitter laugh.

“Ye did nae even ken it because ye did nae ever bother to ken me. Ye lived in yer privileged world.”

My chest and throat grew tight with every word she said. “I do nae understand what that has to do with Ramsey killing my family!” I screamed at her, barely resisting the urge to wrap my hands around her neck and attempt to choke the life out of her.

Noise suddenly erupted from the cell beside us where Munro and the other Gordon warrior were being held. My screaming at Breeda must have awoken them.

“Breeda! Can ye help us? Lady Elena, is that ye?”

I ignored them, as did Breeda, as we stared at each other.

“Ramsey’s mama is cunning. She saw a way out of her circumstances by finding a man she could persuade to do as she bid.”

“My da?” I demanded, fury coursing through me.

“Nae just yer da, Elena. Francine’s cunning started well before she kenned of yer da.

She saw an opportunity to use Ramsey’s birth to make better circumstances for herself.

She met a man who was ruled by his cock, instead of his head and honor.

” I wanted to ask her what man, but I also did not want to interrupt.

I clenched my teeth, biding my time to ask who the other traitor was.

“Ramsey was easy for Francine to manipulate as a child, as all children are when they love their mamas. When he got older, he started to protest. He had honor.” I could tell by the vehemence in her voice that she believed this, and strangely I did, too.

I did not believe Ramsey was all bad. I had seen the other side of him.

“But then he changed,” she said, anguish in her tone now. “Yer da wounded him to the core.”

“How?” I demanded.

“He withheld the same love he gave to ye and Fergus, just as Francine had been telling Ramsey he would,” Breeda said.

“Ramsey realized he was nae ever going to have yer da’s love, which he had desperately wanted, and he also realized he was nae ever going to obtain a position of power in yer family unless he got rid of yer brother, yer da, and yer uncle.

That was always yer stepmama’s plan, from the minute she came to the castle.

It simply took a spell for her to make Ramsey ruthless enough and pliable enough to carry out the plan. ”

“And ye were the way,” I whispered.

“Part of it. I loved him. I wanted a better life as well.”

“He’ll kill ye, ye ken,” I said.

She frowned. “I’ll nae ever see yer brother again. I’ve made certain of that. Laird Campbell is going to give me safe passage back to the clan I am certain I’m truly from. I’ve long kept a scrap of plaid that was with me when I was a bairn. I will make a new life.”

“Who was the man she could persuade to do as she bid?” I demanded, but as the words left my mouth, light flooded the stairs behind Breeda.

Someone was coming. “Breeda, ye must tell me!” I hissed, even as footsteps began to fall, echoing toward us off the stone steps.

“Breeda!” I demanded, but she was looking past me, ignoring me.

Desperation pushed me toward her to touch her, read her mind, get the information I wished, but she jerked back out of my reach.

“Ye can nae have my thoughts, Elena,” she said.

I started to step toward her once more, but the cell door creaked behind me and hands grabbed me. I glanced behind me to find Thor glaring at me and Ross standing there with another guard beside him.

Ross’s gaze swept over me, scorching me with his fury, then fastened on Breeda. He motioned toward her. “Take her above for her travels.”

“Wait!” I screamed, even as I knew my pleas would fall on deaf ears. Breeda was pulled past me as I futilely struggled to gain my freedom from the iron grip holding me in place.

Breeda looked back at me, smiling cruelly, and I felt as if I could breathe fire. “Ye’ll nae make a new life,” I spat, spite, hatred, and sadness rising to nearly choke me. “Breeda made the poison that killed my family!” I bellowed.

Ross’s gaze flew to me, and he barked out, “Halt!” to his warrior. The man clutching Breeda’s arm immediately stopped walking and turned toward Ross, inadvertently forcing Breeda to turn as well. My gaze locked with hers. My words would damn her, but she deserved it.

“She aided Ramsey to escalate the war between our families, which resulted in yer sister being attacked” I said. “If ye release her, ye let the woman go who is partially responsible for nearly destroying yer sister.”

Breeda’s face lost all color as she gaped at me.

Ross and Thor looked at us, astonishment on their faces. I was not done. I may have lost Ross today, but I would give him one more truth before I was done.

“In the cell beside us,” I continued, “are the men who attacked yer sister. Ramsey told me that they were killed for defying his orders, for ravishing yer sister and murdering yer mama. But when I discovered them in yer dungeons this morning, I kenned Ramsey had lied to me. He’s been lying to me for years. ”

Ross did not say a word. He disappeared into the shadows, as Munro and the other Gordon warriors began to beg for their lives. The sing of metal being released from its sheath reached my ears, followed by the creak of the cell door being opened.

“Have mercy!” the men cried out. Then thumps came, as if bodies had dropped.

“It was nae me!” came the next voice, then the same thump as before.

Ross reappeared, his blade stained crimson. He wiped it against his plaid as he stopped in front of Breeda. “Take her to the courtyard and shackle her.”

“Nay, nay, nay!” Breeda screamed, trying and attempting to release herself from the guard’s grip.

It was futile. “Ye can trade me to Ramsey for yer brother,” she flung out.

I watched with numb dispassion as the guard hauled her, kicking and screaming, up the stairs, for what fate only Ross knew.

Ross nodded at Thor who released me and exited the cell.

Ross stepped forward and locked the cell door once more, and then he turned to leave.

Though I knew it was hopeless, that whatever he had felt for me was lost or buried deep under hatred and betrayal, I called to him.

He did not stop or look back, so I blurted what was in my heart.

“I love ye. I ken ye do nae believe me, but I love ye.” He was almost at the top of the turn in the stairs that led him from the dungeon and out of my sight.

“I was going to tell ye when—” I swallowed my burning guilt “—if ye returned.”

He stopped, halfway out of my view and stepped back down a step. “Ye’re a liar. And even if ye were nae, I could nae ever love a Gordon.” With that, he left, taking my heart and all hope with him.